InkBlots

We missed this item a couple of weeks back, but a writer on a USA Today blog defends Mississippi’s honor – somewhat – after last month’s diatribe by Rep. Charles Rangel of New York.

The president of Oreck Manufacturing Co. has distributed a letter to company employees in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee, challenging the accuracy of a quote attributed to him by a Nashville newspaper and reprinted by the Sun Herald.

The letter, originally sent to Sun Herald executives, was distributed to Oreck employees in Long Beach, Metairie, La., and Cookeville. In the correspondence, company president Tom Oreck criticized the Sun Herald’s reporting on his company, but did not elaborate on alleged inaccuracies.

The company announced earlier this month it was closing its Mississippi plant in Long Beach.

The Greenwood School District is asking a state judge to determine whether security footage of an alleged violent confrontation between a student and a security guard at Greenwood High School is public record.

This blog’s headed for home for the holidays. We’ll see you on the flip side. Until then, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a new year filled with much happiness, success and good health. Thanks for reading and Happy holidays, y’all.

Ginna Parsons, lifestyles editor of the Daily Journal, reflects on 20 years in “the business” and how, oddly enough, a gaggle of refugees from the Vicksburg Post have ended up in the cast at the Tupelo daily. She also shares a wicked recipe for hamburger steaks. (Yes, I’ve got food on the brain.)…

Clarion-Ledger executive editor Ronnie Agnew is soliciting reader opinions on the top news stories of the year. Call us a cynic, but we figure sledgehammers will figure prominently…

Terri Ferguson, business editor of Greenville’s Delta Democrat Times, arrives at the timely conclusion: There isn’t really a war on Christmas…

Your acerbic editor is diabetic; this recipe exchange for low-fat, low-sugar holiday recipes appeared in The Sun-Herald; newspapers are referenced. So it qualifies for the blog on a slow week.

Inspired by the story of another person who wanted to set things right, an anonymous reader has sent $240 to the Lincoln Journal Star for newspapers stolen 40-plus years ago by someone else.

Turns out, the reader was motivated by the story of a white man who had stood by in the 1960s in Mississippi while a black man was treated rudely.

The Bolivar Commercial played a role in bringing together Natalie and Bruce Hazelton of Lancaster County, PA, with Nancy Webb of Cleveland, both of whom lost their daughters to heinous acts of murder.

“They are the sweetest people and very down to earth,” said Webb, who joined the Hazelton’s quest to see the man accused of killing young Stacey Hazelton convicted in a Bolivar County courtroom. “I could relate to what they are going through and was there for them during the trial.”

The remains of Stacey Hazelton have yet to be found.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has published the first of two excerpts from the book “Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006″ by Jere Nash and Andy Taggart. This installment is an interesting history of the state’s landmark 1987 multi-million-dollar highway building project.

From The Clarion-Ledger: For nearly half his life, Larry Stewart kept a secret identity, like a superhero without the super powers. Every year around Christmastime, the Mississippi native dressed up in special clothes and did good deeds. And then this year, Stewart removed his mask. He left his secret identity behind and began granting interviews.

And The Star-Herald has determined Stewart passed through Kosciusko on a Christmas swing south last year.

The Associated Press reportered Stewart’s death in January.